What Is Waste?

One of the good things about a holiday is it gives one time to reflect, and surrounded by the excesses of Christmas the question of waste came to mind:

In a work context the seven wastes* are:

1. Overproduction - too much, too early or worse still both.

2. Waiting - a tea break at a downstream process caused by poor service from an upstream process.

3. Transport - unnecessary movement of Work In Progress.

4. Extra Processing - Fixing or doing it all over again.

5. Inventory - Excess raw materials, WIP and finished goods.

6. Motion - The extra steps and time taken by operators to do what they need to do.

7. Defects - Products or services that don't conform to specification or expectation.

Easy, but I wonder how many organisations consider waste beyond that which appears in the bin.

*Toyota's Chief Engineer Taiichi Ohno first articulated the seven wastes. The elimination of waste (muda) is at the core of the Toyota Production System (TPS).

Regards,
Simon

I'm not sure of its provenance, Simon, but I like the Closed Mitt list of TEN wastes:

C omplexity
L abour
O verproduction
S pace
E nergy
D efective goods, errors
M aterials
I dle materials & equipment
T ime
T ransportation

It adds a few things old Ohno missed (labour, space and materials)

Also, in 'Lean Thinking', Womack & Jones add 'design of goods & services which do not meet users' needs' to Ohno's list.

rgds

Jim

Thanks Jim, I've not heard of CLOSEDMITT, but I'll remember it. I think space and materials are covered by Ohno's seven wastes, but labour sure isn't. What's your reference for CLOSEDMITT? Is there further explanation anywhere?

Indeed Womack & Jones addition is important.

For interest I've attached a small pdf file comparing the Seven Wastes in manufacturing, the office and healthcare. Source: http://www.manufacturing-awareness.com

seven_wastes.pdf   14.37KB   227 downloads

BTW I've thought so much about your comp I'm seeing black dots, no I'm not...I'm not sure.

Regards,
Simon

The bigger picture is seen when the wastes are viewed as hidden factory within production.
I believe I posted an image attachment in the document exchange forum regarding hidden factory.
Wallace.

There' s a reference to CLOSEDMITT in this article, Simon, and a few other refs. to be found on a Google search.

http://www.assemblym...0,98406,00.html

I learned about it from Clive Jeanes, then Chief Executive of Milliken in Europe.

rgds Jim

PS - still no submissions on the dot competition - you could still win it yourself!

There' s a reference to CLOSEDMITT in this article, Simon, and a few other refs. to be found on a Google search.

http://www.assemblym...0,98406,00.html

I learned about it from Clive Jeanes, then Chief Executive of Milliken in Europe.

rgds Jim

PS - still no submissions on the dot competition - you could still win it yourself!

In order to understand WHAT IS WASTE, i suggest to read Dr. Deming´s book Th New Economics for Industry, Government and Education, MIT-CAES, 1993, chapter 2: The Heavy Losses. Let me quote one of the heavy losses from this book: SETTING NUMERICAL GOALS...A numerical goal accomplishes NOTHING...Quotas for porduction are first COUSING of numerical goals...

This is the link to buy the book: http://www.deming.or...rces/books.html

In order to understand WHAT IS WASTE, i suggest to read Dr. Deming´s book Th New Economics for Industry, Government and Education, MIT-CAES, 1993, chapter 2: The Heavy Losses. Let me quote one of the heavy losses from this book: SETTING NUMERICAL GOALS...A numerical goal accomplishes NOTHING...Quotas for production are first COUSING of numerical goals...

This is the link to buy the book: http://www.deming.or...rces/books.html

Hello Rey,

Sorry I missed your post. I haven't read the Deming book you reference, but my initial thought is...what? I don't agree. I'm sure Deming provides the logic to not setting numerical goals along with the alternatives. Perhaps you could explain a little more about his theory.

Regards,
Simon

In our WCM (World Class Manufacturing) we classify, 12 (TWELVE) wastes or MUDA.

Do you guess what are that??


Manoj

In our WCM (World Class Manufacturing) we classify, 12 (TWELVE) wastes or MUDA.

Do you guess what are that??


Manoj

Hi Manoj,

Finally worked how to post - great! Jim mentioned 10 wastes earlier:

Complexity
Labour
Overproduction
Space
Energy
Defective goods, errors
Materials
Idle materials & equipment
Time
Transportation
I presume you have something like these ten and two extra. Now let me think...

Please find attached herewith a format which we use to identify and try to Eliminate all 12 wastes

Regards,

Manoj Mathur